UCO Bank

UCO Bank is a public sector bank founded in 1943 and headquartered in Kolkata. It operates 3,327 branches, with total assets of approximately Rs 378,617.65 crore on the latest published figures.

UCO Bank is headquartered in Kolkata and runs 3,327 branches with total assets of around Rs 3.79 lakh crore. Its network is strongest across eastern India, a region where the Member Institution panel is thin: relatively few of the 40 registered institutions have deep branch coverage in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and the north-east.

Its role in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups. UCO Bank is one of 40 institutions registered with the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company as a CGSS Member Institution (NCGTC MLI ID 18, classified as a public sector bank). Member Institutions are the lenders that actually extend credit under the scheme: you borrow from UCO Bank, and NCGTC guarantees UCO Bank against your default. That guarantee is what allows the facility to be extended to a DPIIT-recognised startup without collateral, with cover of up to Rs 20 crore per borrower, being 85 percent of the amount in default on loans up to Rs 10 crore and 75 percent above that.

What this means in practice. For a founder in the east that scarcity matters more than the bank's national ranking. UCO is often one of a small handful of physically accessible Member Institutions, which is worth knowing before you conclude that CGSS is out of reach locally.

The terms are the bank's, not the scheme's. This is the point founders most often miss. CGSS fixes the guarantee, not the loan. The interest rate, tenure, moratorium, repayment schedule and how the Annual Guarantee Fee is passed through to you are all set by UCO Bank under its own credit policy, and they differ materially between Member Institutions for an identical borrower. Nor does registration oblige UCO Bank to lend: it appraises you on its normal credit standards first and applies the guarantee second. Approaching more than one Member Institution is almost always worth the effort.